Haas driver Romain Grosjean says he was "lost" during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after failing to make it out of Q1.
The Frenchman has endured a tricky weekend so far in Baku, making a number of mistakes under braking and announcing his troubles over team radio. His struggles continued in qualifying when he made a mistake on his final flying lap at Turn 2, leading to an early exit in Q1 having only managed a time good enough for 17th.
Grosjean, who has been hindered by brake-related problems throughout his time at Haas, was keen to make no excuses for his disappointing qualifying result, instead conceding he simply needs to do a better job of driving around such issues.
"The problem is that I don't get the feeling and therefore I am not getting the best out of the car," Grosjean explained. "There's a lot of things that could be better on the car but I am not saying that's why we are out, I'm just saying that when things are wrong in that aspect and I don't' get the feedback that I want, I am struggling to find where I should put the car.
"Today, I didn't get the feeling. It's as simple as that, I'm not searching for an excuse. If you look at the bigger picture you can find a lot of areas, tyres too hard, brakes not [working] well, set-up maybe not perfect and so on. When that's the case I need to do a better job.
"It's not set-up related it's just that when things are not great, I am struggling to find the real limit. We made the right choice for qualifying, the set-up was going in the right direction but like I say, when the deceleration zone is not to my liking, things are not happening as they should on the paper, then I get a bit confused and lost and I am struggling to drive."
Grosjean admitted that while he believes braking has always been the strongest aspect of his driving style, it can also be his weakness when he does not feel comfortable with his car.
"Braking is my strength, since Formula Renault but when things are not working as I want, it's my biggest weakness. It could be my strongest point or my weakest point. So when it's not good I'm lost and I admit it. I need to work on that and I am sure that I can get better.
"The brake feeling has been terrible all weekend long, but Kevin [Magnussen] has got the same comment and he can drive around it. When the brake feeling is terrible we need to find a way that I can work with it. When they are great that's my strongest point in racing, I'm braking very late, very hard, turning the car with grace. When I cannot do that then I just need to find more tools."